Family interactions of alcoholics as related to alcoholism type and drinking condition

Background: Several studies have reported that the marital interactions of antisocial and aggressive, versus nonantisocial and nonaggressive, alcoholi cs exhibit higher rates of aversive-defensive communications and higher lev els of negative reciprocity. To extend these findings, we examined the effe ct of alcoholism type (high- versus low-antisocial alcoholics: HAS, LAS) an d drinking condition on family communication patterns. Methods: Marital and parent-child dyads from 100 alcoholic families were vi deotaped while they discussed personally relevant issues during drinking an d no-drinking sessions (no children were offered any alcohol). All interact ions were coded with the Marital Interaction Coding System, and the data we re assessed for differences in rate of positive, negative, and problem-solv ing behaviors, as well as sequential structures. Results: HAS couples were more negative during the drink versus no-drink co ndition, whereas drinking did not affect negativity for LAS couples. In add ition, the negative communications of HAS versus LAS alcoholics were more l ikely to increase spouse negativity during the drink versus no-drink condit ion. Group differences for parent-child interactions were few. Conclusions: The nature of family interactions was related to both alcoholi sm type and alcohol consumption, and the marital interactions of alcoholism types could be differentiated on the basis of the frequency and sequential structure of negative exchanges. It is most important to note that it is t he interactions of the HAS alcoholic that undergo the most change as a func tion of drinking condition, with little support for the "adaptive consequen ces" hypothesis that alcohol consumption leads to more effective problem-so lving for couples in which the alcoholic exhibits fewer antisocial and more internalizing characteristics. Study limitations and directions for future research are discussed.